2. Choosing a Scripting Language
Choosing a scripting language is an important decision.  A scripting language allows pages to be dynamic.  In other words, the contents of a page can have infinite display possibilities. For example, the shopping cart page, this is one page (http://www.mydomain.com/cart.asp) However, it can display an infinite amount of results depending on what is added to the cart by different users.  This is the power of dynamic pages, you create one page, and it has the ability to display an infinite amount of results.  For scripting, we recommend using ASP (Active Server Pages).  However, we do support JSP(Java Server Pages), CFM(Cold Fusion), and PHP scripting languages.  This collection of scripting files or what is sometimes referred to as a web application is what makes your shopping cart or ecommerce solution function correctly.  We will give this software to any of our hosting customers free of charge.  These pages can be tuned and customized to fit and match your companies needs.

3. Accepting Credit Cards

You must have a Merchant Account to accept credit cards.  Each Merchant Account assesses their own set-up and transaction fees.  These fees are not from DL Host but from the credit merchant.  We found a Credit Card Merchant that has the best rates around and would be happy to recommend them to you for this process.  Your site will then be able to accept Amex, VISA, Discover, and MasterCard.  The shopping cart we give you then ties to the Credit Card Authorization Site (which is seamless for your customer), runs the approval and then sends you a check at the end of the month.  The Authorization site would then send you an email letting you know the order number and the amount of that order.  That is your trigger to fulfill the specified order and ship the product to the corresponding location.  At Dlhost, we recommend three credit card packages:

Package #1

(High Startup Fees - Low percentage per transaction)
Setup Fee: $300
Monthly Fee: $10
Transaction Charge: $.25 and 2.29%-2.9% per transaction

Package #2

(No Startup Fees - Higher percentage per transaction)
Setup Fee: $0.00
Monthly Fee: $29.95

Annual Fee: $99.00
Transaction Charge: $.30 and 2.29%-2.9% per transaction

Package #3

(No Startup Fees - Highest percentage per transaction)
Setup Fee: $0.00
Monthly Fee: $0.00
Transaction Charge: 15% per transaction

Again these fees are not from Dlhost but from the credit card merchant. We assist all Dlhost Customers in tying the Credit Card processing to your site for no additional charge.

4. Photograph Your Products

You may be surprised, but it's unnecessary to hire an expensive professional photographer for your Web imaging needs.  Just take simple photographs of your products, add a white background and voila.  With your database solution and photographs, you have a completely searchable and graphical e-commerce website.

5. Build and Test Your Store
Plan your online store with site navigation in mind. Develop sections or departments to organize the products for easy browsing. If you have a large quantity of products, you will probably want to add search capabilities. If your online catalog has many products you should have both product pages and an order form. The dynamic product page promotes learning about the products so take some time to design this page with thought. It will have to have the ability to display all of your products at one time or another. 

It's important to make a good first impression on your visitors, so you'll want to construct, test, and polish your online store off-line before opening it to the public.

You may want to add a customer friendly FAQ section to your online catalog to answer the most frequently asked questions about your products.

6. Market Your Store
Once you're online, you must give your site the exposure it needs in order to inform your potential customers. Your options include Pay-Per-Click services like Overture.com, optimizing pages and registering with search engines like Google, Yellow pages listings, indexes like Yahoo and other Internet marketing vehicles. Don't forget print and other traditional media advertising.  You can have the best site, prices, and products on the web.  But if nobody knows about it, it is useless if you plan to generate revenue.

For an aggressive approach to marketing your store and assuring its success, we highly recommend Overture.com.

If you have any questions about any of the topics discussed here.  Please feel free to contact us at 888.212.7582